Crystalline lead-containing oxfluorides

ABSTRACT

A crystalline lead-containing oxyfluoride of the formula PbMO 2  F wherein M is selected from the group consisting of Ga, Sc, In, Lu, Yb, Tm, Er and Tl.

This is a complete application based on US Provisional application Ser. No. 60/023,934 filed on Aug. 9, 1996.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a group of new crystalline lead-containing oxyfluorides having useful dielectric properties.

The use of dielectric materials to increase capacitance is well-known and long-used. Earlier capacitor dielectrics fell into two categories. The first category of dielectrics has a relatively temperature-independent, but low, e.g., 5-10, dielectric constant. Materials such as electrical porcelain and mica fall in this category. The second category of dielectrics has a very high, e.g., ≧1000, but temperature-dependent dielectric constant. An example is barium titanate.

Capacitance is proportional to the dielectric constant. Accordingly, materials with a high dielectric constant are desired. In order to perform acceptably in tuning or resonance circuits, the dielectric must have a dielectric constant that exhibits minimal temperature dependence; otherwise small changes in ambient temperature throw the circuit out of resonance. Other applications require a dielectric constant that exhibits minimal frequency dependence. It is also desirable to have the loss or dissipation factor be as small as possible. The need exists for materials with all of the above properties.

Troyanchuk et al., Mater. Res. Bull. 30, 421 (1995) disclose the compositions PbFeO₂ F and BaFeO₂ F. They report that PbFeO₂ F is antiferromagnetic and has a dielectric constant of about 20 at 1 MHz and that the dielectric constant is practically the same in the temperature range of 77-293K. They also report trying to synthesize other ABO₂ F compounds where A=Ba, Pb, Ca and B=In, Cr, Al. However, they could not obtain any of these, in spite of a wide variation of synthesis conditions. They hypothesize that the stability range of ABO₂ F compounds is narrow and probably connected with the use of Fe³⁺ ions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention provides novel crystalline lead-containing oxyfluorides of the formula PbMO₂ F wherein M is Ga, Sc, In, Lu, Yb, Tm, Er or Tl. These oxyfluorides are useful in dielectric applications.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The dielectric constants of the oxyfluorides of the formula PbMO₂ F, wherein M is Ga, Sc, In, Lu, Yb, Tm, Er, or Tl, are greater than 15 and are essentially independent of temperature and frequency. The dissipation factors are low. These oxyfluorides are useful in applications requiring dielectrics with such properties, e.g., to increase the capacitance of a capacitor.

These PbMO₂ F compositions of this invention can be synthesized by first thoroughly mixing stoichiometric amounts of the precursors. Precursors such as PbO, PbF₂, M₂ O₃ and MF₃, wherein M is Ga, Sc, In, Lu, Yb, Tm, Er or Tl, are preferred. Especially preferred is the use of stoichiometric amounts of PbO, PbF₂ and M₂ O₃. The intimately mixed starting material is loaded in a gold capsule and sealed. When M=Ga, Sc, In, Lu, Yb, Tm or Er, the capsule is placed in a tetrahedral anvil apparatus and subjected to a pressure of 50×10⁸ Pa-70×10⁸ Pa (50-70 kbar) and heated to 700° C. to 900° C. The temperature and pressure are maintained for 45 minutes to 75 minutes. In the case of M=Tl, the capsule should be heated to about 550° C. and the pressure and temperature maintained for 30 minutes. The capsules are rapidly cooled, i.e., quenched, to room temperature and then the pressure is released. The capsule is removed and cut open and the dense pellet is recovered.

The lead-containing oxyfluorides of this invention possess a perovskite-type crystal structure and X-ray diffraction results can be indexed on the basis of a simple cubic cell.

Dielectric measurements reported in the Examples were carried out on a disk shaped sample, approximately 3 mm in diameter and approximately 1 mm thick, cut from the dense pellet of PbMO₂ F produced in each Example. The faces of the disk-shaped samples were polished with a fine-grit sand or emery paper. Silver paint electrodes were applied on the faces and dried at 200° C. The capacitance and the dielectric loss measurements were performed by the two-terminal method using a Hewlett-Packard 4285A LCR bridge in the frequency range 10⁴ to 10⁷ Hz and the capacitance, C, and the dissipation factor, DF, are read directly from the bridge. The dielectric constant (K) was calculated from the measured capacitance, C in picofarads, from the relationship, K=(100 C t)/(8.854 A), where t is thickness of the disk shaped sample in cm and A is the area of the electrode in cm².

EXAMPLES

Oxyfluorides of the formula PbMO₂ F, wherein M=Ga, Sc, In, Lu, Yb, Tm, Er and Tl were prepared by the following procedure:

The precursors oxides and fluorides and amounts thereof (in stoichiometric ratios of PbO:PbF₂ :2M₂ O₃) as shown in Table I were mixed thoroughly and about 400 mg of the mixture was placed in a gold capsule (3 mm diameter and 6 mm length) and sealed. The capsule was placed in a tetrahedral anvil apparatus and was subjected to 58×10⁸ Pa (58 kbar) pressure and heated to the temperature shown in Table I.

                  TABLE I                                                          ______________________________________                                               PbMO.sub.2 F                                                                             PbO     PbF.sub.2                                                                              M.sub.2 O.sub.3                                                                       Temp.                                   Ex.   Phases    (grams) (grams) (grams)                                                                               (°C.)                            ______________________________________                                         1     PbGaO.sub.2 F                                                                            1.1160  1.2260  0.9372 700                                                                     M = Ga                                         2     PbScO.sub.2 F                                                                            1.1160  1.2260  0.6896 900                                                                     M = Sc                                         3     PbInO.sub.2 F                                                                            1.1160  1.2260  1.3882 900                                                                     M = In                                         4     PbLuO.sub.2 F                                                                            1.1160  1.2260  1.9897 800                                                                     M = Lu                                         5     PbYbO.sub.2 F                                                                            1.1160  1.2260  1.9704 800                                                                     M = Yb                                         6     PbTmO.sub.2 F                                                                            1.1160  1.2260  1.9294 800                                                                     M = Tm                                         7     PbErO.sub.2 F                                                                            1.1160  1.2260  1.9126 800                                                                     M = Er                                         8     PbTlO.sub.2 F                                                                            1.1160  1.2260  2.2837 550                                                                     M = Tl                                         ______________________________________                                    

For examples 1-7, the pressure and temperature were maintained for 1 hour. For Example 8 (M=Tl), the pressure and temperature were maintained for 30 minutes. The power to the furnace was then turned off. The capsules were rapidly quenched to room temperature and then the pressure was released. The capsule was cut open and the dense pellet formed was recovered.

A portion of the pellet was cut and ground to form a powder and X-ray powder diffraction measurements were performed. The X-ray diffraction patterns can be indexed on the basis of a cubic unit cell. The results for the PbScO₂ F oxyfluoride of Example 2 are typical and are shown in Table II. The lattice parameters for all the product oxyfluorides of Examples 1-8 are listed in Table III. The crystalline lead-containing oxyfluorides of this invention possess crystal structures that are closely related to that of the mineral perovskite.

                  TABLE II                                                         ______________________________________                                         h k l          d.sub.obs (Å)                                                                      d.sub.cal (Å)                                       ______________________________________                                         1 0 0          4.140   4.136                                                   1 1 0          2.925   2.928                                                   1 1 1          2.3879  2.3879                                                  2 0 0          2.0680  2.0680                                                  2 1 0          1.8505  1.8497                                                  2 1 1          1.6876  1.6885                                                  ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE III                                                        ______________________________________                                                      PbMO.sub.2 F                                                                             Unit Cell                                               Example      Compound  parameter (Å)                                       ______________________________________                                         1            PbGaO.sub.2 F                                                                            3.974                                                   2            PbScO.sub.2 F                                                                            4.136                                                   3            PbInO.sub.2 F                                                                            4.289                                                   4            PbLuO.sub.2 F                                                                            3.289                                                   5            PbYbO.sub.2 F                                                                            4.309                                                   6            PbTmO.sub.2 F                                                                            4.332                                                   7            PbErO.sub.2 F                                                                            4.341                                                   8            PbT1O.sub.2 F                                                                            4.395                                                   ______________________________________                                    

Dielectric measurements were carried out as described above on a disk-shaped sample approximately 3 mm in diameter and approximately 1 mm thick cut from the dense pellet of PbMO₂ F produced in each Example. The measurements of the dielectric constant (K) and the loss factor (DF) at 300K and frequencies of 10⁴ Hz to 10⁷ Hz are given in Table IV. These data show that the dielectric constant is essentially independent of frequency.

                                      TABLE IV                                     __________________________________________________________________________     Ex.     10.sup.4 Hz                                                                            10.sup.5 Hz                                                                           10.sup.6 Hz                                                                           10.sup.7 Hz                                      No.                                                                               PbMO.sub.2 F                                                                        K  DF   K  DF  K  DF  K  DF                                            __________________________________________________________________________     1  PbGaO.sub.2 F                                                                       44.0                                                                              0.0006                                                                              44.0                                                                              0.0007                                                                             44.0                                                                              0.0009                                                                             44.1                                                                              0.0010                                        2  PbScO.sub.2 F                                                                       28.8                                                                              <0.0001                                                                             28.8                                                                              0.0001                                                                             28.8                                                                              0.0002                                                                             28.8                                                                              0.0007                                        3  PbInO.sub.2 F                                                                       30.7                                                                              0.0008                                                                              30.7                                                                              0.0005                                                                             30.7                                                                              0.0007                                                                             30.7                                                                              0.0010                                        4  PbLuO.sub.2 F                                                                       18.1                                                                              0.0005                                                                              18.1                                                                              0.0007                                                                             18.1                                                                              0.0006                                                                             18.2                                                                              0.0010                                        5  PbYbO.sub.2 F                                                                       21.7                                                                              0.0008                                                                              21.7                                                                              0.0010                                                                             21.8                                                                              0.0010                                                                             21.7                                                                              0.0012                                        6  PbTmO.sub.2 F                                                                       16.5                                                                              0.0007                                                                              16.5                                                                              0.0010                                                                             16.5                                                                              0.0008                                                                             16.5                                                                              0.0010                                        7  PbErO.sub.2 F                                                                       15.2                                                                              0.0010                                                                              15.2                                                                              0.0014                                                                             15.2                                                                              0.0015                                                                             15.3                                                                              0.0016                                        8  PbTlO.sub.2 F                                                                       37.7                                                                              0.0067                                                                              37.6                                                                              0.0054                                                                             37.9                                                                              0.0080                                                                             38.0                                                                              0.0140                                        __________________________________________________________________________

Measurements of the dielectric constant (K) and the loss factor (DF) at a frequency of 10⁶ Hz and temperatures of 150K and 400K are given in Table V. These data show that the dielectric constant is essentially independent of temperature.

                  TABLE V                                                          ______________________________________                                         Ex.               150 K         400 K                                          No.    PbMO.sub.2 F                                                                              K      DF       K    DF                                      ______________________________________                                         1      PbGaO.sub.2 F                                                                             43.7   0.0001   44.4 0.0015                                  2      PbScO.sub.2 F                                                                             28.5   <0.0001  28.9 0.0003                                  3      PbInO.sub.2 F                                                                             30.7   0.0003   31.2 0.0007                                  4      PbLuO.sub.2 F                                                                             18.0   0.0005   18.2 0.0013                                  5      PbYbO.sub.2 F                                                                             21.8   0.0007   21.7 0.0021                                  6      PbTmO.sub.2 F                                                                             16.3   0.0005   16.9 0.0013                                  7      PbErO.sub.2 F                                                                             15.1   0.0012   15.2 0.0035                                  8      PbT1O.sub.2 F                                                                             36.3   0.0042   39.9 0.0132                                  ______________________________________                                     

What is claimed is:
 1. A crystalline lead-containing oxyfluoride of the formula PbMO₂ F, wherein M is selected from the group consisting of Ga, Sc, In, Lu, Yb, Tm, Er and Tl.
 2. A process of making a crystalline lead-containing oxyfluoride of the formula PbMO₂ F, wherein M is selected from the group consisting of Ga, Sc, In, Lu, Yb, Tm, Er and Tl comprising the steps of:a) mixing stoichiometric amounts of precursor oxides and fluorides; b) heating the mixture in a sealed container to a temperature of 550° C. to 900° C. and a pressure of 50×10⁸ Pa to 70×10⁸ Pa for 30 to 75 minutes; c) quenching the container to room temperature; and d) recovering the oxyfluoride.
 3. The process of claim 2, wherein the sealed container is made of gold.
 4. The oxyfluoride of claim 1, wherein the oxyfluoride has a dielectric constant of at least 15 which varies less than about 10% between 150K and 400K.
 5. The oxyfluoride of claim 4, wherein the dielectric constant varies by less than about 4% between 150K and 400K and wherein M is selected from the group consisting of Ga, Sc, In, Lu, Yb, Tm and Er. 